No: 48
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February 2010
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News
February
Seminars
7: Tracing your English ancestors from afar
West Torrens Public Library 1:30 to 3:00pm
21: Coming to grips with FamilySearch WEA
Centre Adelaide 10:00am to 1:00pm
March Seminars
14: Family History on the Web WEA Centre
Adelaide 10:00am to 1:00pm
17: Tracing your Irish ancestors Mt Barker Community
Library 1:30 to 4:30pm
20: Coming to grips with FamilySearch WEA
Centre Adelaide 10:00am to 1:00pm
26: Tracing your English ancestors WEA Centre
Adelaide 6:30pm to 9:30pm
See the seminar program
for more details and bookings.
Shake your family tree
The National Archives is hosting a Shake your family tree
day across all its reading rooms on 23 Feb 2010 from 9:30am to 4:00pm.
Each office will be offering a range of talks, workshops, demonstrations,
and research guidance. For details go to: naa.gov.au
School
records
To
convert a genealogy of a family into a family history, family historians
seek out records that fill in the gaps between birth and marriage
and death. A worthwhile resource in this quest has to be school records
and in the case of South Australia one can much insight into a family
by trawling though this material which unfortunately is largely unindexed.
In 1875 the Colonial Government passed the Education Act which placed
full responsibility of public education with the government and resulted
in the establishment of the forerunner to the modern Education Department
to manage this aspect of education. Moreover, schooling became compulsory
for children aged 7 to 13 years. However, the government had been
involved in some management of education from 1847.
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In
this issue:
News
February
Seminars
March Seminars
Shake your family tree
Feature article
School
records
Special feature
NAA abandons SA
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Graham Jaunay
Adelaide
Proformat
Glandore SA 5037
Australia
Tel: +61 8 8371 4465
proformat@jaunay.com
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In
1847 the administration commenced paying teachers a stipend of 1/8
[17¢] per month per pupil for schools whose enrolment was at
least 20 pupils. The records for this era are with State Records Series
GRG 24/6 Returns received by the Colonial Secretary. This
material will provide the researcher with the name of the school,
the teacher and the pupils as well as the pupils' ages, attendance
and grade. These records cover the period 1847–1851 and have
been indexed [see the Special List in the Reading Room] and the records
themselves are available for viewing on film.
Unfortunately the period 1851 to 1875 is not well represented in the
records. In 1851 a new Education Act provided a stipend for teachers,
the construction of classrooms and school inspectors to be managed
by a Central Board of Education. No pupil records are available for
this period although the researcher may find records about the teachers
and facilities in GRG 50/1 Minutes of the Central Board of Education
and the Council of Education. This material has a limited index
within the collection: GRG 50/1/0000/7
The 1875 Act provided teachers with a salary, made attendance largely
compulsory for primary aged children but still required fees from
parents. Being a government bureaucracy the system soon established
a significant level of record keeping. Unfortunately the more pertinent
material for researchers was not required until 1885 and even then
much of the material has been lost or remains in the custody of individual
schools. Until the 1920s there was no requirement to preserve government
records and even after the introduction of the archives school managers
were not aware of their responsibilities in this matter. The writer
can recall in his early days as a teacher looking through ruins of
remote schools in the state and often finding records still within
the structures! Of all the paperwork generated by schools, the most
useful would be the Admission Registers but only 10% have been deposited
with State Records. Roll Books and Inspectors Registers are less useful.
Unless you seek your own record, these have a closure period of 30
years.
Some schools have deposited a significant collection of material and
the research is best served by checking the holdings at State
Records. The easier way to do this is to visit the web
site catalogue even though it is not all that user friendly
or complete and certainly does not welcome a Macintosh visitor! Click
of the search button in the left side blue column to reveal
a choice of search engines. Select keyword search and type in the
name of the school in the format such as Edwardstown AND primary
school. {Because there has been more than one school with the
name Edwardstown, it is useful to distinguish which one.] Such a process
using the example will reveal a substantial listing for this particular
school.
By contrast some school have no records deposited. When this is the
case it is worthwhile checking with the school itself to see it it
is holding onto the records. A search of the catalogue will fail to
find a listing for Mitcham Primary School - a long established large
school that is still holding on to its records. Of course if the school
is retaining custody of their records, the researcher will have to
negotiate with the manager of the school and that may prove a problem.
On the other hand if the management is not aware of their responsibilities
to deposit their records, they may also not be aware of the rules
regarding access which places a 30 year embargo on these records to
the general public and one may be able to access rather recent material!
A less well-known set of records are those for public examinations.
The Public Education Board maintained Registers [GRG 130/1 Examination
Registers 1901–1965] that provide the pupil's name, school
or address and subjects passed. The later volumes also provide a date
of birth and marks achieved. Access is restricted and a researcher
will have to consult with the duty archivist. Associated with this
group of records are the Registers detailing who gained a Qualifying
Certificate [QC], that is, they were eligible to enter a secondary
school having passed the appropriate examination in Grade 7. GRS 7186
Registers of Qualifying Certificates 1930–1942. These
records were only discovered in the basement of the Education Department's
head office in 1999. The information contained in these registers
includes, an index of schools with corresponding page number; on each
page is listed the school's name, distinguishing number for each student,
the student's name, student's age at 31 December next, examination
results by subject, total examination result and whether student achieved
a QC or failed. These records are open.
The University of South Australia [UniSA] maintains a web
listing of teachers and their postings for 1851–1962
developed by the late Brian Condon. Three types of searches are available
– by teacher's name, by school and by service year. The information
disclosed about individual teachers, their postings and performance
can be quite revealing! Details include date of birth and death (if
in office), training and qualifications, rank, date of appointments,
placement, salary, inspector's marks and comments.The list is far
from complete and given the compiler's death in 2005 the future development
of this database is unknown.
When it comes to private schools, the survival and access of records
is rather hit and miss. If the records have survived then the access
of the records requires an approach to the school and an acceptance
of their access policy. The largest school system outside the state
schools is Catholic Education SA. Currently only individuals
can access their own personal information on application to the appropriate
principal or the education office if the school has closed. The other
much smaller system is conducted by the Lutheran Church (Lutheran
Education Australia) and again the approach is via the school
principal as generally each school holds its own records with its
own access policy. The Lutheran Archives do have records from a few
schools and the archive has an access policy which allows viewing
of admission registers. If the school has since closed the records
may remain with the local congregation. The records of those schools
shut by an Act of the SA Parliament in 1917 have likely been lost.
The remaining private schools, most of which have some religious affiliation,
operate independently with their own policies regarding access to
their records.
NAA abandons SA
Most in the genealogy and history fields are now well aware of the
shock announcement by the management of the National Archives of Australia
to close the Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin offices, and many have made
representations to the NAA and federal politicians about the matter.
There is still no certainty that such representations have made one
iota of difference to the decision in spite of the current PM's stance
on the matter of closure of such facilities made in April
2001.
The decision process…
It might sound churlish to suggest that the closure decision has been
orchestrated in an underhanded way but these are the concerns being
expressed about the decision process…
• The decision to provide the service in some state capital
cities and not others is contrary to one of the principals under which
this nation was federated, namely state equity regardless of the population
size.
• The decision-making process and lack of transparency and consultation
is clearly evident. There was no consultation with the NAA Adelaide
Consultative Forum prior to the decision. In fact this group and others
in Adelaide were given the clearly false impression that a new office
was being sought with a preference to co-locate with State Records
of South Australia. This misleading intention was being bandied about
up to just eight days before the announcement.
• On the one hand the NAA claims it is as the result of budget
cuts by the government but if the budget was so tight why was there
a reported under spend of $5.246M in the 2008-09 budget in the annual
report? It would be interesting to see full costings of paying out
the staff in the three offices, relocating the records interstate,
moving other office equipment and facilities interstate, and “making
good” the leased buildings, and how this will save the money
required in the short term.
• There has been a significant lack of consistency in the messages
that have been delivered to the public when SA Director (based in
Brisbane), David Swift was quoted in the Canberra Times saying
that the the smallest of the offices and the least-used collections
were closing. He said, "They’re very small collections
by comparison [to other states], and it’s very expensive to
maintain a physical presence for such a small body of material, and
low usage”. There was a different reason given in the public
message put out by National Director, Ross Gibbs on the NAA web site:
“The decision to close the Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart offices
was based on the knowledge that they could not endure any more budget
cuts while still maintaining the high level of service that they are
known for.” Ironically in 2001 when the Adelaide office
was relocated to it present site, 27 of the 30 shelf kilometres were
removed from SA. This is a typical ploy of government—run down
a service and then claim it is not being used to justify its closure!
• The last NAA annual report shows that the number of original
records accessed by researchers in reading rooms jumped up nearly
10,000 more than the previous year and the number of researchers visiting
reading rooms increased while those who were accessing NAA remotely
(ie via phone, email and the web) dropped. A fact sheet suggests that
the majority of access to the records is online, but that does not
mean that serious in-depth researching that requires trawling though
records is of lesser importance.
• The NAA have published a fact sheet on their web site to justify
the decision: collectively the three offices to close hold 4% of the
total record collection and yet already the majority of SA's collection
had been removed from SA in 2001. If all the records relating to SA,
NT and TAS were returned, what would this percentage be then? The
same fact sheet reveals the seemingly few visits to the offices to
be closed but fails to reveal how many visits were made to the offices
to remain open and more importantly fails to reveal how many visits
to offices in ACT, NSW, QLD, VIC, and TAS related to records for the
states where offices are to be closed.
* Nowhere does the justification for the closure of offices recognise
the importance of academic research. Now students of history who need
to access material generated locally will need to travel and possibly
stay interstate to research records generated in their own region!
Concerns at the lack of a state-based office…
Apart from the flawed decision-making process, South Australian based
researchers need to be especially concerned. (No doubt those in Tasmania
and the Northern Territory need to be too, but I am confining my comments
to the state I focus on.)
• As previously mentioned, SA has already lost most of the NAA
collection interstate in 2001 and no one was consulted the first time
around either.
• The records that were moved interstate have not been made
more accessible as promised at the time, nor has there been any reduction
in copy costs for SA researchers.
• The records chosen to remain in Adelaide during the 2001 relocation
project were those that were determined to be records that should
not leave the state because they were considered iconic and significant
to SA. How have they lost their significance since?
• The digitisation program started with providing researchers
with the opportunity to request digitisation of publicly accessible
records held in Canberra for no charge in 2001, but by the time this
digitisation service was extended to the states in Feb 2007, records
could only be digitised on public request for a fee. (The only records
being digitised at no cost to researchers were those nominated by
NAA for its proactive program – principally the WWI service
records in Canberra and assorted migration records in the states.)
This has meant that SA records sent interstate can only be accessed
by SA researchers either paying to travel to the interstate reading
room to view them, paying a research agent to view them interstate
on their behalf; paying for a print of the whole record for a steep
fee, paying for a low resolution digital copy of the record to be
loaded to RecordSearch that they (and anyone else) can then
view and print out. This discriminates as researchers living in the
city where the records are kept can visit and view the original record
and take digital photos of it with their own cameras at a higher resolution
at no charge, or pay 50c to have selected pages from the record photocopied
when they visit.
• According to NAA’s own web site, only 10% of the collection
is described at item or file level on RecordSearch. How will
SA researchers know a record exists in order to be able to order a
digital or print copy of it? Currently they can visit the SA office
to look through checklists and trawl records.
• Many records have a very general title – such as correspondence
or simply a person’s surname and initials. Currently researchers
are able to visit the Adelaide office to trawl through large numbers
of records at no cost to see if they are relevant for their research
purposes. With relocation of the record interstate this opportunity
is lost.
• Other services for SA researchers have also been eroded in
recent years. In October 2006 the reading rooms in all states/territories
except Melbourne and Canberra closed on Mondays and Tuesdays to allow
the NAA to focus resources to meet the increased demand for online
access and services. This was at the expense of those wanting to visit
to view original records on those two days and because there were
no funds to employ additional staff to provide the digitisation service
being offered.
• Some members of the general public need to contact the NAA
for certified copies of records for entitlement purposes often with
very short deadlines and the vast majority of people in this category
of user do not even know NAA exists until they discover they need
the records it holds. The Department of Immigration and Citizenship
requires some South Australians to get certified copies of records
of their arrival in Australia from the National Archives in order
to be able to apply for Australian citizenship, apply for an Australian
passport, and/or to apply for an Australian Resident Return Visa among
other things. Similarly Centrelink also requires certified
copies of passenger lists held by NAA as proof of arrival in Australia
as a permanent resident in the form of a certificate of evidence of
resident status for those who apply for an Australian pension. As
three of the other Australian documents required for a pension (each
worth 70 points) are a current Australian passport, an Australian
citizenship certificate, or an Australian birth certificate, many
non-naturalised migrants need this documentation from the National
Archives. Certified proof of arrival is also required for applying
for driver’s licences, taking out a mortgage, job applications,
student loans, and so on.
The fate of the material in the existing local collection…
As mentioned in a prior newsletter, closure of the Adelaide Office
is a double issue for SA in that it was the only state to hand over
its colonial records of the government departments taken over by the
Commonwealth in 1901. What will happen to these records generated
by the Customs, Defence, Naturalisation, Maritime
(Fact Sheet 260),
Meteorology Departments, and the Post Office? These are just some
of the concerns relating to material about SA. A list of the most
used series is appended to the end of this article.
• With no SA expertise many records will not be described accurately
or in any depth, plus there is the possibility that they will be reviewed
for retention at a later stage and non-SA staff not knowing their
significance or level of usage – could dispose of them.
• Despite the fact that most SA records went to Sydney in 2001
there has not been any large scale data entry to RecordSearch
or digitisation of this material on the part of NAA. If they have
not managed to do anything in nearly ten years what is the chance
of anything being done with the rest once it’s relocated. There
is the possibility that any program once commenced will not focus
on non-local material!
• Fact Sheets, Research Guides and other finding aids are written
by staff members who have a good knowledge of the records to help
with public access. This lessens the likelihood that any additional
finding aids for SA records will be produced when they are relocated.
• Both State Records of SA and the State Library
have been approached by the NAA to take the Adelaide records yet these
state institutions have just as many if not more resource and budget
problems. If the records are returned to their agencies as was the
case with some records in the 2001 relocation that were taken back
by Defence Science and Technology Organisation at Edinburgh
for storage, then the public loses access to them and the storage
is likely to be less than archival standard.
• There are virtually no archival jobs available in SA and so
the six Adelaide NAA staff and their considerable archival expertise
with South Australian material will be lost.
Highly used Adelaide holdings…
• Passenger
lists. See NAA Fact Sheet 256.
• Merchant marine records of crew members who deserted or were
engaged and/or discharged in SA ports from 1852 to 1986.
• SA colonial naturalisation certificates from 1848 to 1903
– many for early German migrants and also for those who were
residing in the NT.
• SA “alien” (non British) registration records
(some with photos) from the 1920s to the 1980s.
• British migrant selection documents for those requiring assisted
passage to SA 1947–1981 including some child migrants (the “Forgotten
Australians”).
• Migration case files that cover not only individuals but also
document changing migration policies and their implementation in SA.
• WWII army pay files for those who enlisted in SA. These records
include more family details than the service records held in Canberra.
• Records for those who were interned in SA in WWI and WWII
– especially those interned at Loveday Camp in the Riverland.
• Plans, drawings, specification and photographs of SA National
Estate buildings such as the GPO, post offices, customs
houses (Fact Sheet 92), drill halls, other defence
buildings (Fact Sheet 91) and facilities – used by
heritage consultants, architects engaged in restoration projects and
archaeologists.
• Investigation case files created by the SA branch of the Federal
Police precursors covering a range of topics such as records of wartime
interrogation and appeal hearings, information garnished from informers
and surveillance, aliens, enemy sympathisers, subversive elements,
Revolutionaries, Bolshevists, Fascists, enemy espionage, communists,
European Fascist parties, Anti-Semitism, reports on internment and
internees from both World Wars, cults, sects, Irish National Association
activities, propaganda, strikes and protest marches, information on
deportations, applications for naturalisation and requests for information
from the Immigration authorities. The series also contains confiscated
material in the form of photographs, postcards, maps, posters and
so forth.
• Petitions for patents registered in SA often including drawn
specifications from 1878 to 1915.
• Boer War attestation appears for the 5th Imperial Contingent
from SA.
• Registration of ships in South Australia including their specifications
and owners.
• SA
lighthouse (Fact Sheet 259) log books from 1853 to 1969.
• Applications for the registration of trademarks in SA (usually
with a sample of the trademark) 1893 to 1997.
• Applications for the registration
of copyright (Fact Sheet 105) in SA (often including samples
of the work being registered such as photographs of SA events, people
and places, sheet music, postcards etc) from 1878 to 1909.
• SA/NT pension index cards from 1948-1982 that are used to
help re-connect Indigenous family members who are part of the Stolen
Generation.
• Records of the Torrens Island Quarantine Station including
photographs from 1924-1945.
• South Australian Post and Telegraph records from 1847 to 1994
which document post offices in SA and the NT often incorporating petitions
from local communities for changed services and numerous postal and
telecommunication functions like the issuing of new stamp designs,
the construction and implementation of the Overland Telegraph and
so on.
• Over 2000 photographs collected by the former SA Australia
Postal Museum dating from 1840 to 1990;
• SA migrant hostel registers from the late 1940s to the 1980s.
• Files about SA businesses created by the Deputy Prices Commissioner
dating from 1939 to 1948.
Particularly significant Adelaide holdings include:
• Records from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation
especially those about Woomera and Maralinga.
(Fact Sheet 129)
• SA records collected for or created by the Royal
Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (Fact Sheet
112) which are supposed to stay in the state.
• Index cards for SA Aboriginal people 1917-1957 that have been
listed on the NAA Bringing Them Home Index and are used by NAA in
fulfilling its Memorandum
of Understanding with Nunkuwarrin Yunti (SA Link-Up)
to help re-unite members of the Stolen Generation. (Fact
Sheet 209)
• A major collection of Commonwealth Railway files,
diagrams, plans, maps and photographs as SA was home to the ANR head
office for many years. With the centenary of the Trans Australian
Railway construction coming up shortly these will become even more
important.
• As the head office of the Australian
Wine and Brandy Corp is based in SA all their records are
also held in Adelaide including records of the marketing of our wines
and brandies overseas from 1924 to 1991. (Fact Sheet 26)
Postscript…
On 20 Jan 2010 the Federal Government conducted a community cabinet
meeting in Adelaide, and the genealogy and history community made
a number of applications to meet with the Minister, Joe Ludwig, over
the matter. Those successful in gaining a session, reported dissatisfaction
at the response to their submission. The Ministers and his minders'
attitudes were that it was a done deal and not negotiable
as many debating points made, several of which are outlined above,
were ignored. The authorities seem to be suggesting that they see
digitisation as the solution to the problem especially for a researcher
and yet we all know that this is rather unlikely and any requests
for this will as likely or not fall on the shoulders of the applicant
to fund.
At the time of writing the writer has been advised that a mere 5900
signatures have been appended to the petition
being circulated. This suggests that the wider community are disinterested
or unaware of the issues, as such a small response is not going to
encourage any politician to review their decision! Probably the timing
was not good for a petition over the summer break and hopefully the
response will pick up.
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